Gibb was appointed to the BBC’s board last year by Boris Johnson and has played an influential role assessing the impartiality of the BBC’s coverage.
Journalist Emily Maitlis has hit out at the BBC, her former employer, for allowing an ‘active agent’ of the Conservative Party to act as an arbiter of the broadcaster’s impartiality.
The former Newsnight presenter was referring to Sir Robbie Gibb, who was previously Theresa May’s director of communications and who also helped set up right-wing channel GB News.
Gibb was appointed to the BBC’s board last year by Boris Johnson and has played an influential role assessing the impartiality of the BBC’s coverage.
So, who exactly is Sir Robbie Gibb and what are his links to the Tory party?
Gibb used to be a BBC journalist for 25 years, before being appointed Theresa May’s director of communications in 2017. After May’s departure, Gibb was given a knighthood by the outgoing prime minister for political and public service.
He has also, quite openly, expressed his admiration for disgraced prime minister Boris Johnson. In December 2020, he praised Johnson’s Withdrawal and Trade agreements with the EU, writing: “This momentous deal not only marks a new chapter in Britain’s history but will rightly stand as a historic triumph for a Prime Minister who has all too often been misunderstood and maligned.” So much for holding power to account and being impartial.
Byline Times also quotes Gibb writing about how Johnson wants to unite the country. “In his heart, the Prime Minister is a man who wants to unite not divide. For of all the myths about him there is none greater than that which seeks to portray him as a leader who revels in controversy and division – the very opposite is the case”, he wrote.
In August 2020, it was reported that Gibb was a leading figure behind the establishment of right-wing channel GB News, before stepping down as editorial adviser in October 2020.
Sam Bright, investigations editor at Byline Times, has also highlighted how just after a month following his appointment, Gibb was still ‘liking tweets from Tory MPs saying how desperate they are to kick out the SNP’.
It’s quite something that someone like Gibb who is so open about his political views and who has such close links to the Conservative Party can then act as an ‘independent’ arbiter of its impartiality.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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